In the Crossfire
by PagetPaulson
Summary: Three dead.


Emily's arms wrapped around her son's body to stop him from running toward the caskets that were being carried out into the graveyard. "It's ok," she shushed him, trying to calm the boy down as the rest of their friends and family continued into the cemetery. "Sweetie please, look at me."

Jack held onto his mother's arm that wrapped around his chest and cried.

"Baby," the agent whispered tearfully. She knelt tot he ground and turned her son in her arms. "It's going to be ok."

The six year old let out a sob before launching himself into the brunette's arms.

Emily hugged the small boy tight to her chest, her arms wrapping around his back and her chin resting on his tiny shoulder. "I know, baby." She kissed his cheek, rocking his body gently to try and get his sobs to subside. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I don't want to go out there," the blond boy cried into her neck.

The FBI agent hugged her son even harder, feeling his tears rushing down her neck and into the material of her dress. "It's not scary." Pulling away from the six year old, Emily wiped his tears. "Everyone here came to say goodbye, just like we did."

Jack's tiny bottom lip trembled. "I don't want to say goodbye."

The heartfelt whisper had Emily's chest aching. "Not goodbye forever," she denied, fixing the part in her son's hair. "Goodbye for now."

"When are we gonna see daddy again?"

Emily did her best to smile through her own tears as her fingers traced the lapels of Jack's suit jacket; she and Aaron had gotten it for him only three months ago. "We're going to see him all the time," she said confidently. Seeing her son's confusion, she nodded her head. "We're going to see him in the pictures around the house, those movies we made," the now single mother smiled. "We get to see daddy whenever we want."

Jack took a deep breath just like his parents had taught him. "Do you think he's having fun with grandpa?"

"I think he sure is," she smiled back at him. Only four months ago did her father pass away, and he had loved Aaron and Jack the few years he knew them. Her father and Aaron went fishing every Sunday they were free, and he took Jack out Friday after school to have lunch and buy a toy or two.

"Are they fishing?"

Emily nodded, standing back on her feet and picking her son up into her arms. She set the six year old on her hip, letting his arms hug tight around her neck as they walked toward their friends and family in the cemetery. "Every day," she smiled tearfully. The agent let her son wipe his nose on the back of her sleeve before she reached into his jacket pocket and took out the handkerchief that was his grandfather's. "What kind of fish do you think they're getting?"

"Tuna," the six year old nodded. His mother's conversation with him distracted the young boy just enough to stop his crying. Now his light brown eyes were staring out to the three coffins being buried side by side.

One for JJ, one for Dave, and one for the father of her child.

"Catfish too," Jack said quietly, lowering his voice as they got closer to the crowd of people. "Grandpa loves catfish."

The ambassador's daughter smiled, kissing her son's cheek. "He sure does."

Carrying the six year old over to his father's coffin, she instructed him to take a rose from his Aunt Penelope and lay it atop the mahogany wood.

"Do you remember your prayer?"

Jack nodded, his hands gripping the collar of his mother's dark dress. "Dear daddy, I hope you're having fun up in heaven with God and grandpa. Mommy made sure to get you your favorite flowers," he stated, looking at all the red tulips littering the coffin. "Grandma Lizzie said we're going to dinner after with a lot of people I don't remember, but mommy says you know them so I'll go with her. I love you to the moon and back, daddy. A million times." The last words were whispered, a secret between him and his father.

Emily's eyes watered with fresh tears as her son pressed a kiss to her husband's coffin. "We'll miss you, sweetheart."

"Bye daddy."

Rubbing her hand down her son's back, Emily stood them back with the rest of the crowd as the priest spoke and the coffins were lowered into the ground. As the priest called them up to be the first ones to shovel dirt into the graves, her dark eyes caught sight of a flower sprouting just where her husband's headstone would go.

A tulip.

"Goodbye sweetheart," she whispered.


End file.
